Max Mara’s New Campaign Was Inspired By James Bond

James Bond has a very specific uniform: Classic tux, Vesper martini, Aston Martin DB5. But 58 years and 26 movies later, Italian fashion brand Max Mara was inspired to give the British franchise an update — and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

For the film’s latest installment, recent Golden Globe winner Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in to add some of the dark, witty humor that put her and her work (which includes Fleabag and Killing Eveseason one) on the map. While imagining how Waller-Bridge would tackle the screenplay (notably, only one other woman has ever written a Bond movie, and that was in 1962), Max Mara designer Ian Griffiths got inspired to build his Spring Summer 2020 collection around what he believed she would do with the classic flick.

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Photography by Steven Meisel.

“She [Waller-Bridge] has promised to give women a more prominent role. So I thought, ‘Why not do a wardrobe for a film that hasn’t been made?’” Griffiths said to WWD. He also said that in his version of the film, Bond goes up against a heroine who “does everything Bond does but without using a gun and without degrading other people.”

For Max Mara’s Spring Summer 2020 campaign, Griffiths gathered the foursome in front of renowned fashion photographer Steven Meisel, who captured the strength of both the collection itself and its feminine message on film. Photos range from intense shots of all four wearing monochromatic suiting in gray and black to more playful images of each model donning their own shade of pastel.

With No Time To Diepushed until April, we’re crossing our fingers that Max Mara’s Spring 2020 collection will make an exciting on-screen appearance when the film premieres later this year.